The Conversion Bureau: Waking From a Nightmare

Chapter 3: Friends

Rainbow Dash walked alongside me through the now familiar concrete halls. Instead of going back the way Twilight and I had come Dash lead me down a side path to the right that went into a thinner hallway. Dash flapped her wings and started floating next to me, "So," she said, bopping me on the head with her hoof, "What brings you to the most awesome rebellion ever made, courtesy of yours truly?"

I smirked, "You set all this up? I seriously doubt that."

Dash laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, floating behind me slightly, "Uh... well... I did all the footwork for the Seattle Division!"

"That's better," I said with a chuckle. "You know, I'm kind of surprised. I wasn't expecting so many ponies to be here."

Dash frowned, "And why not, huh?! Just because those other ponies are huge assholes doesn't mean all of us agree with them. You know, when this thing first started Twi came to ME first!"

"When what started?"

Dash sighed and shook her head, "When we realized what we were doing was stupid."

"You look tired."

"Yeah... yeah that comes with the territory. I wanted to clonk out after Colorado, but the Royal Guard was hot on our tail. They almost got a couple of us, but we all managed to get away this time."

"Ever fire that M4?"

"A few times," she said softly, looking away, "Pegasi wings are pretty dextrous. I can't aim with it like humans can, so I had to practice a lot. It was... easier than it should have been."

I didn't question her further. I could only imagine what it was like to fire upon someone with the intent to kill them, even in self defense the thought made me slightly uncomfortable. I also didn't ask about the wings, I knew every single pony was hooked to magic in some way.

They still followed a strict set of rules as far as science and magic went, but those rules weren't anything like ours. I had witnessed several ponies do the impossible already.

I decided to broach another subject.

"So where did all this come from?"

"We built it," she said proudly. "For a long time the HLF wasn't exactly the biggest foal on the playground, but now? Now even the royal guard doesn't want to screw with us."

We turned another corner, passing a few soldiers lounging against the wall. "So... what happened with the Princess? Didn't Twilight know her?"

Her mood deflated, and the excitement in her eyes from talking about the HLF seemed to vanish, "It's a really long story, and... it's not exactly mine to tell. If you wanna know about that stuff you gotta ask Twi."

"I'll uh... make sure to do that."

"Yeah..."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said, playing it off with a laugh, "We get a lot of new guys asking us about it. Kinda comes with the territory."

"Territory of what?"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "You know... being the Elements of Harmony."

"Hold up." I stopped walking and grabbed her by the hoof. Her wings snapped back to her sides and she fell slightly. I gently let her down to the ground and she frowned up at me, "The Elements of Harmony, you mean the traitors of Equestria?"

"Yeah, heh, I guess that's what they're saying about us now, huh? That name spread like wildfire in griffon country."

I had never seen a griffon before, or any other species from Equestria other than the ponies. Celestia was strict about letting the other species past the barrier.

Rainbow Dash sighed and scuffed the ground with her hoof, her gaze looked... far off, "To be honest, we're not traitors to anything as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh?"

"It's just... with everything we learned before coming to Earth, and everything we've seen since, if we stayed loyal to Celestia that would make us traitors. I mean, c'mon!" she said with a laugh, waving her hoof, "I'm the element of loyalty, I've gotta stay true to my friends, y'know?"

I smiled and reached down, pulling her helmet off and ruffling her mane. She blushed and looked to the side, "H... hey! None of that! Let's hurry and get to the chow hall, I'm hungry too!"

I laughed when Dash snatched her helmet back, jumped up, and flew ahead to get away from my hand.

She was kind of a bro.

The chow hall was even larger than the room that Twilight had taken me to. It was at least as tall as a two story house, and metal tables with benches lined the center of the room in several rows. On either side were the serving lines with several small kitchens behind them. The smell of fresh food was in the air, and the room echoed with talk and laughter.

I hadn't seen anything like it in years.

Dash flew over to me and nudged my shoulder, "You like it, right? Eh, eh?"

"How long has the HLF been operating?" I asked under my breath.

Dash grinned, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-four."

"Heh, pretty much ever since your balls dropped, then." I smacked her on the back of the head and she laughed, "Seriously though, before The Elements joined you wouldn't see a pony caught dead hanging around the HLF. I mean, I know I'm a cocky little mare, but I'm NOT lying when I say, if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony, the HLF would be fighting a losing battle. The American governments been disbanded, pretty much everything but North and South America have been sucked up by the barrier."

"Wait, what about the HLF in other countries?"

"It didn't really take off until the barrier started taking Europe, by then most of Asia was already gone, dead, or converted. The flooding caused by Equestria and the riots in Europe were the icing on the cake. We're all crammed together like sardines in the USA now."

I nodded softly, "Putting aside everything to help a species you've been told to hate." I smiled at Dash, who looked a bit bashful, "That takes a lot of guts, and I see a lot of ponies here."

"Thanks," she said softly, "Hey let's get some grub, can't just stand around talking like a couple of idiots."

It didn't take us long to get through the line and get our food. I stacked my plate with a steak, potatoes, and a handful of vegetables. Dash snagged two salads, putting one in a box for Fluttershy.

As we sat down to eat I reminded myself how weird it was to see ponies just sit in chairs like this. Dash tucked in her wings and grinned at me, "What're you looking at?"

I rolled my eyes, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you guys were human, the way you talk, sit, all that crap. Then again..."

Dash dove into her plate, hooves still in her lap as she took her first mouthful of salad.

I grinned, "You guys can't exactly use silverware."

She glared, "Shuf upf!"

I laughed. It was a real laugh, not the fake laugh I gave at the bureau whenever someone told a stupid joke. This mare was fun to be around, and it had been a long time since I'd been able to talk to anyone on a personal level, "Thanks Dash."

She tilted her head, swallowing a bit of salad, "For what?"

"For being... normal," I said, taking a bite out of my steak.

Dash smiled.

"Well lookie what we got here!"

I looked up at the voice, and saw a pretty thick guy coming up behind Dash with a smirk on his face and a gun on his belt. He was flanked by a skinny guy with a baseball cap. They looked like thugs, honestly.

Dash's bright demeanor immediately dropped, "What do you want John?"

'John' planted a hand on the back of Dash's chair and leaned down, still smirking, "Oh you know Rainbow, just getting some lunch. Who's this guy, he your horsefucker boyfriend?"

I could almost hear Dash gritting her teeth as her face turned red in fury, "No, and even if he was it wouldn't be any of your god damn business."

John laughed, "Aw, whatsa matter? Afraid to speak up after the thrashing you got from the boss?"

Dash growled, "You know what he told me when he took me into the briefing room after our scuffle John?" She was pissed now, her wings flapped and she jumped from the chair, floating in the air and jabbing him hard in the forehead with her hoof, "He told me that the only reason he's not letting me wipe the floor with you is because it would risk the relations between the humans and the ponies in the HLF. Before I left the room he said that if you ever gave me shit again all I had to do was go to him and he would kick your ass himself!"

"Bullshit."

"Who's the one with the bigger gun here, you reject?"

Now it was John's turn to be angry.

He brought his hand up and it connected with Dash's cheek.

To her credit, Dash didn't even flinch, and her face barely moved.

The chow hall went silent, all eyes were on our table now.

John fumed, "Listen here you little cunt. The HLF barely tolerates your kind as it is. You come to our home, start killing and turning us, and now you even wanna get your dirty little hooves into the HLF."

Dash looked like she was about to explode.

I stood up and made my way around the table, acting before things got really nasty. I grabbed Dash's hoof and pulled her back gently, "It's not worth it," I said softly.

Dash's gaze fell and she took a deep breath, calming herself.

I smirked, "But THIS is!" I yanked Dash to the side and stepped forward, balling my hand into a fist and bringing it hard into John's stomach.

His buddy stepped forward, trying to get a hit on me. I wasn't a fighter, and his buddy's fist connected hard with my cheek. I grabbed him by the collar and threw him behind me. I saw his head connect with the corner of the table and he fell to the ground screaming curses, grasping his head in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

My head was still a bit dazed from the hit, so I didn't see John start moving for me until it was too late.

I did, however, see Dash ram into his side.

I could hear the air get knocked out of him, and the crack of what I assumed was a now broken rib.

John fell like a brick, groaning in pain.

"Nopony messes with my friends!" shouted Dash, flying back and propelling herself forward to give him one last, solid kick to the face, "NOPONY!"

There was a long, drawn out moment where the only thing we could hear was the sound of our panting. I sat down as the adrenaline left me.

Dash turned to me and grinned.

The helmet fell off of her head.

She scrambled to retrieve it, blushing from embarrassment and grumbling under her breath.

'Cute,' I thought.

Dash retrieved her helmet and her grin returned as she flew to me and held out her hoof. The look she was giving me said, 'You know what to do.'

I bumped my fist with her hoof.

In the back of the room someone cheered.

Then the entire chow hall erupted in a cacophony of clapping, laughing and comradery.

Life was good...

for the first time in years.